Tag Archives: Friday the 13th

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, we’re all feeling grateful for our beloved moms. But just in case you weren’t, we decided to round up 10 of Hollywood’s most horrible mothers to make you extra happy about yours. Afterwards, we think you might want to reconsider being stingy on your gift this year.

Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest

Who can forget Hollywood’s most iconic bad mom? Starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, Mommie Dearest is supposedly the real life depiction of growing up with Joan. All I know is, never use wire hangers — or else.

Mrs. Bates in Psycho

Oh, mother. Norman Bates’ mom in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller, Psycho, kind of gets an unfair rap. Sure, the lady raised a serial killer with a serious Oedipus complex, but she’s not the real murderer in the film. Spoiler alert: Norman is — he just has a split personality and kills to please “Mother.” In reality, she was his first victim.

Margaret White in Carrie

Margaret White is the hyper-religious, seriously abusive and totally disturbed mother in Carrie. Not only does she eventually try to kill her daughter, but she also kept her locked in a tiny closet for most of her life. But don’t worry kiddos, ol’ Maggie gets hers in the end, when Carrie telekinetically kills her.

Kate McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Kate McCallister from the Home Alone franchise left for vacation and forgot her son not once, but twice. Luckily, Kevin was practically an evil mastermind, and really good at forging weapons from household items.

Mrs. Vorhees in Friday the 13th

Mrs. Vorhees from the Friday the 13th movies could actually be considered a good mom, depending how you look at it. Yeah, she’s a mass murderer, but only because she wants vengeance for her son Jason.

Other Mother in Coraline

Talk about the grass being greener. When Coraline get sick of her mother’s incessant nagging and busy schedule, she ends up finding comfort in an alternate universe version of her mom called her “Other Mother.” Of course, Other Mother is actually a monster who lures kids to her world by being a perfect mom. Then she steals their souls.

Gladys Leeman in Drop Dead Gorgeous

Gladys Leeman will do anything for her daughter Becky in the 1999 dramedy Drop Dead Gorgeous — even kill her fellow beauty pageant contestants. But aside from being a ruthless killer, I imagine she was also a really awful stage mom.

Zinnia Wormwood in Matilda

Poor Matilda. She’s stuck with The Trunchbull at school and at home, she’s got Zinnia Wormwood for a mother. The self-centered (and generally shady) mom doesn’t let Matilda do anything. Her one redeeming moment is when she gives the kid up for adoption. But that’s only because her and her husband were trying to evade the FBI by moving to Guam, and didn’t really want to take her.

Mrs. Loomis in Scream 2

Like Mrs. Voorhees, Mrs. Loomis could also be seen as a good mother. Well, not really. But no one can say she wasn’t dedicated. Yes, she did leave Billy while he was in high school, but eventually returned to seek revenge on Sid after his death. “Was that a negative, disparaging remark about my Billy?”

Max Conners in Heartbreakers

Heartbreakers is about a mother-daughter con artist duo who marry old men to inherit their money. So, yeah, probably not the best mom to begin with. But when her daughter Page actually falls in love, Max decides to seduce him. Why? To prove no one loves Page but her. Because yeah, that makes sense.

So, even if you’re not totally crazy about your mom, be happy that she’s not just totally crazy. Or, you know, a serial killer. Happy Mother’s Day!

It is Friday the 13th and, yes, I am getting a "13 ball" tattooed on my arm from Magic Cobra Tattoo Society. The line on Driggs and South 1st was long and totally fun for the inexpensive permanents. They ink for 24 hours starting at midnight and I gave them mixed CDs for the occasion …some biker/tattoo music to ease the pain.

It may be Triskaidekaphobia that has me not willing to write today, to commit to a story, say anything I might regret later. I was up until 8am at Magic Cobra haven and woken at 7am Thursday morning. That question from Dirty Harry keeps banging around in my head "…But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?’” Well I feel anything but lucky today and the entire world away from my pillow feels like a .44 Magnum; I am absolutely feeling like a punk, so forgive me if I keep this to 13 possibly dumb questions with uneven answers.

Q1) Was it the luck of the Irish that got that fabulous Ballinger crew open almost immediately at Webster Hall after a stabbing at a hardcore show, while Greenhouse/W.i.P. got shuttered harder and longer for a bottle-throwing incident? A1) I think it’s a matter of a long history of working well with the community that has Webster doing its thing, while Greenhouse has been way more annoying to some. The fact that the Webster stabber and stabbees were white and the bottle throwers and brawlers at Greenhouse were black never crossed my mind.

Q2) Are the rumors that Pink Elephant may close for August true, and was it bad luck or bad planning to open a Euro-based club in the beginning of the summer or was it planned like this all along? A2) I’m too tired to ask them the question today and you know what will be said anyway.

Q3) Is The Double Seven just being unlucky or is it the weather, or is it just fabulous and not as confused as my personal confusion perceives it? A source who made me swear to say nothing about what he told me about The Double Seven will be happy that I respect his wishes. A3) Mark Baker and crew will tell me how wonderful it is over there if I had the strength to pick up the phone so why should I bother to call?

Q4) So why can’t they call it Bungalow 8 and what did Amy Sacco ever do to be the focus of such silliness? A4) She is so fabulous and smart and fun and if they want to call it "8"…wink, wink, I’m going to go anyway. Hey, they can call it 13 and I’m there.

Q5) Is the Xtravaganza Ball really going to happen next Sunday, July 22, and have they really asked me to be a judge? A5) OMG ! Yes ! What to wear? I must look …legendary.

Q6) Have those wonderful and erotic Domi Dollz fallen into a pile of good luck now that every skirt on the planet has read Fifty Shades of Grey? A6) I missed their monthly soiree/seminar this past Thursday at the Museum of Sex but predict they may soon need to get a bigger room to whip those novices into shape.

[Editor’s Note: I went, and it was amazing. Those Dollz know how to whip you and their leather-collared, half-naked boys into shape.]

Q7) Am I really going to do 13 of these? A7) No, seven is more than half of 13, I think… and considering the condition my tattoo is in, it’s all you can expect. I’m going to crash…get my tattoo from Adam Korothy at Magic Cobra, rinse, and repeat.

Whatever Friday the 13th means to you, why not ruminate on what the fifth iteration of the classic horror film would have been like if David Lynch directed it?

Taking Lynch’s signature surface level editing and directorial affinities, the brief peak at an alternate Friday the 13th Part V features a giddy diner waitress, the look and sound of flickering neon, strange dancing, dialogue chopped and cut in reverse, a skinless chicken, lots of screaming, all set against a jazzy score. Enjoy.

Or just go watch Fire Wak With Me—that’s always good for a hair raising.

When Friday the 13th was first released in 1980, the teen slasher with little money and no bankable stars became an instant cult phenomenon. But then Jason Voorhees was hacked to bits in the fourth installment of the franchise, reborn a year later, relocated to Manhattan, sent to Hell and pitted against Freddy Krueger. Its cast — with the exception of Kevin Bacon — disappeared into the ether. With today’s release of the highly anticipated remake, blockbuster daredevil Michael Bay intends to awaken the dead, and catapult four young campers into the spotlight. But can Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti and Travis Van Winkle hack it in Hollywood? They ain’t out of the woods just yet.

Former Abercrombie & Fitch model Travis Van Winkle‘s a long way from his old gig. He explained to us his specific way of preparing to “die” in the movie… “The one thing that I really tried to think about the most was, if you have a machete in your lungs, how would that affect the air that came out of your mouth? How would that affect the way that you breathe? How long would you last if your lungs got basically sliced open? I tried to work on recreating that in my trailer and in my own time, but how do you prepare to die your own death? I listened to soft music, to get me in that mindset of “I’m dying.”

Amanda Righetti – memorable to many of us for playing Aunt Haley on The OC – talks about interacting on set with the remake’s Jason, actor Derek Mears. “There were certain times, the first day when he walked out in the whole garb, I definitely got chills up my spine. It was really creepy. Once he put that mask on, he totally would just be Jason. He was in it.”

Danielle Panabaker was the only one we talked to who had tried on the infamous mask. “My younger cousins came to visit the set with my aunt and her friend. The adults knew the original mythology behind Friday the 13th and my little cousin—who is about eight-years-old— was just sort of tossing around the hockey mask lightly and had no idea what she was doing. My aunt was like, ‘Put that down, you have no idea.’ She was clueless to the iconic weight of it”

Supernatural actor Jared Padalecki discusses the process of seeing his own movies. “’ve snuck into — I think — every movie that I’ve been in, usually right as they’re about to leave the theaters, a couple weeks or couple months after they’re released. I’ll go with a buddy and go in after the credits have started and sit in the back. That’s usually the only way I’ll watch the movie.”

Photography by Patrick Fraser. Styling by Paul and Isabelle at Artmix Beauty.

Travis Van Winkle: remember that name. It sounds ideally American Boy, he looks formidably like an American Boy, and if you need any more verification, yeah, he modeled for Abercrombie at one point. And this American Boy is—after stints on That’s So Raven, The OC, and Veronica Mars, doing a clasically American thing: running from a knife-wielding Jason Voorhees in the remake of Friday the 13th. BlackBook’s Eiseley Tauginas got a chance to sit down and talk with him about what it’s like to film a movie with the ubiquitous killer, the snow in New York, and oh, and by the way: serious spoiler alerts ahead.

It just started snowing in New York a few minutes ago I am jealous as a motherfucker. That sounds amazing. I went to New York four times in the last couple of months, and that’s all I wanted. I need to go back now since it’s actually snowing. I’ve never been to New York during the Christmas season to see the spectacle that goes on there either.

You have to see the tree and the typical New York things at least once. What was the first time you were ever scared by a film? I remember watching The People Under the Stairs by Wes Craven. I remember that movie scaring the crap out of me. It’s so over the top, but I was genuinely freaked out. I actually watched the movie a few weeks ago for the first time in many years and it still freaked me out. So the People Under the Stairs is my choice for a really good scary movie.

How old were you when you first saw it? Maybe 8 or 9.

Has being on the other side of horror films desensitized you to scary movies? It definitely opens you up to understand what goes on, to know the special effects behind it, to know that the blood good—it tastes like candy. So you know that all of it is fake, but if a movie is good and it still scares you, you have to respect that movie. I watch The Descent recently. That movie freaked me out. I know what goes on and how you shoot things and what goes on behind the scenes, but this movie still did the trick. If you can get lost in a movie and it scares you, then they did a damn good job making that movie. It was fantastic. I was surprised how much it actually captured me and scared the shit out of me.

How was your experience—as a dude—different from the actresses in Friday the 13th? Do you think you had a physical advantage in the testosterone-charged movie set? Testosterone. What’s the word I’m looking for—I felt like there were a lot of women on set. (Ed. Estrogen?) I didn’t feel like it was a testosterone-based set at all.

I heard through the grapevine that in free time on the set, a lot of the guys would challenge one another to push up competitions. Okay, yes. There was that. In between takes, we’d see who could do more push-ups. Okay, you’re right. There was a lot of testosterone on set. But, I don’t think there was an advantage, because the girls had to do just as many stunts as the guys did. It was nagging on us all equally. It was just a good set to be on, I’ll tell you that. I had a damn good time with the people that were there. Everyone had amazing chemistry. You didn’t have to worry about being judged for having a push-up contest. Everyone was cheering us on. Everyone was just very involved and very into each other. It was a really great set.

What was the best on-screen death in the film? Hold on, I’m going through all 13 deaths right now in my head. I like Chewie’s. Chewie had a cool death. I liked Bree, Bree had a really kickass death, because he actually sticks her head through a coat hanger and then I shoot her. She gets it pretty bad. And before she gets hung up on the coat hanger, she gets suffocated. She gets strangled by Jason and then he hangs her up on a coat hanger, then I shoot her. It’s a pretty intense death.

How was shooting that? It was fun, because I got to fire a gun and I got to go over the training on how to shoot a gun and how to load a gun and all of the safety precautions. It was fun firing off live blanks on set. People take it so seriously. It’s a pretty big deal when you do that, and there’s so much safety that goes behind the scenes. You think it’s just a blank, but it definitely made that night an event for me.

So Bree’s is the most gruesome? Yeah I would say Bree’s is the most gruesome. I just like hers because you get to see her head going through a coat hook, then she gets shot and she gets soaked in her own blood. That sounds pretty fucking gruesome to me.

I agree. How did you prepare for all of this, mentally and physically, on the day you knew you were filming your death? Believe it or not, I tell you, its very interesting going into shooting your own death scene. With mine, I had to be held up in the air. So I had no breath and the one thing that I really tried to think about the most was, if you have a machete in your lungs, how would that affect the air that came out of your mouth? How would that affect the way that you breathe? How long would you last if your lungs got basically sliced open? I tried to work on recreating that in my trailer and in my own time, but how do you prepare to die your own death? I listened to soft music, to get me in that mindset of “I’m dying.” Emotionally, before I did my death scene, I’d put myself into an emotional state of “I’m leaving this earth.” It’s a really strange role to have to play to figure out how you would be right before you die. How the fuck would you be right before you die—you wont know until you do it. It was very strange having to prepare for my own death.

Did you ever try on the hockey mask? I did not try on the hockey mask. I wanted to, but I didn’t think that it would be right to do that. Not my place.

Did you spend time with Jason out of character? It was fantastic hanging out with Derek. He is a down-to-earth, really caring guy. He’s very nice. We liked to hang out and go out for drinks.

What did you do with free time in Austin? Played basketball—a lot. We went out to restaurants, and to all the crazy bars, saw live music. It’s a really good town. It’s filled with cool coffee shops and all sorts of entertainment. They have this movie theater called The Alamo Draft House. It’s a full bar, full menu, full everything as you watch a movie. I think they should have that everywhere. I think people would love that. To get drunk and watch a funny movie, or watch a scary movie. I’m down for that. They need to have one of those in LA or New York.

I agree, maybe this is your next venture—the franchise. I’m starting it up tomorrow.

When Trent dies, does he deserve it by horror movie no-no rules (having sex, drinking and drugs, separating from the group, etc.)? I do have sex. So therefore, I think I should die, because everyone who has sex in a horror movie dies. I don’t do drugs, or really even drink that much, but I end up separating myself from the group—so 2 out of 3, yeah I should die. I deserve it. I was meant to go.

After shooting this film, do you think you’ll ever send your kids away to summer camp? I’ve never been a big fan of summer camp anyways. This movie helps solidify that. But I don’t think I’m gonna send my kids off to summer camp for the fact alone that there may be some creepy old man in a mask trying to kill them. And, no, I don’t think that kids need a summer camp. I’d want to hang out and play with my kids during the summer instead of sending them off to a camp.

Aren’t you glad now that you’ve thought this through ahead of time? I am. Now, my summers are set with my children. When I have them. Weird that I’m talking about my kids—I don’t have any kids.

Are you superstitious at all? I tend to be superstitious, yes.

Are you prepared for Friday, February 13th? I think I’m just going to be incredibly excited when that film releases. There is a certain amount of energy that happens on the Friday the 13th days, because it’s supposed to be a very spooky day. So, to have this franchise opening on that same day—I think it’s going to be electrifying. There’s going to be a lot of good energy in the air, and I think that alone will help bring people out to the movies

Amanda Righetti earned her place in our hearts and teenage fantasies through a supporting presence in guilty television pleasures such as The O.C. (oh, Aunt Haley), North Shore, and Reunion. Following her debut as a scream queen in Return to House on Haunted Hill, Righetti takes on the slasher genre as Whitney in Friday the 13th. She plays sister to Clay (Jared Padalecki), and good girl gone missing in the woods of a certain famed psychopathic murderer. She took a moment from shooting CBS’s The Mentalist to tell BlackBook about the softer side of Jason.

What was the first movie that you were ever really scared by?Gremlins. I was too young to be watching it, but it used to just freak me out.

How has working on horror films changed your perspective on the fear factor of horror films? Has it desensitized you to scary movies? I don’t know if it desensitizes me, but watching the movies that I’m working on is a little bit easier because at least I know what happens. But I don’t like the really torturous horror movies like Saw and Hostel … that kind of stuff I cant even bring myself to watch. It’s a little bit too much.

After filming Friday the 13th, do you think you’ll send your kids to summer camp? I don’t know! I never actually went to summer camp myself, but I think summer camp in general can be kind of creepy. But then again, I think for most kids it can be kind of fun, if their friends are there. I think it will depend on where summer camp is.

Not at Camp Crystal Lake? Definitely not at Camp Crystal Lake.

There are too many bad movies about things that can potentially happen at summer camp. With Friday the 13th, I’m like thank god I never went to summer camp. I would have been the girl that was creeped out by everything. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave my room to even go to the bathroom at night.

Which do you prefer? Your work in horror films, or on TV series? They’re both very different mediums. I personally prefer doing film because you kind of know what you get when you see the script, and with TV it’s a constant evolution. Which is not bad, it’s just different. It kind of keeps you on your toes, and you’re kind of jamming through it a lot because you don’t get the script until a couple days before you start shooting … so it’s a lot of cramming and a long run. If you’re going for a full season, you’ll shoot for eight or nine months, and you’ll be working five days a week and almost 16 hour days every day. So I think that you get burnt out a little quicker on TV. You have to pace yourself endurance-wise. With doing Friday the 13th, I had a really great time, a great experience, a great cast, and I really enjoyed working with Platinum Dunes.

I know that there is a lot of running and screaming and physicality in the film. Did that take a toll on you at all? Yeah, it did. The cast and everybody was great, but in terms of shooting the film itself, it was challenging to say the least. Physically, emotionally, there was — I did a lot of my own stunts and damaged my body in ways that I’m still recovering from. And of course, emotionally, you have to dive into the abyss a little bit. To stay in that fearful place. But it was great for what it was. It was a great experience, and I hope that the film does well.

How many Friday the 13th films did you watch to prepare? I stuck to the original with Kevin Bacon. Where the mom is the killer. And then I did more research on the director [Marcus Nispel] I was working with and his style of horror, because he did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake with Jessica Biel. I was focused on Marcus’ work and what his vision was and trying to get into his head a little bit about what he saw for the movie, so that we could all be on the same page for the movie while we were shooting it. Which was a challenge.

The film was shot in Austin; is it reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre at all? Yes, it was. Being in the woods and having the light shafts coming through the trees, and that serene kind of beautiful portrait-like shots, and of course, something really terrible is happening in them, but in that same sense, the flow is very beautifully set up. It’s a very visual film. So yeah, it has (parts reminiscent) of Texas Chainsaw. Where would you shoot your ideal horror film? I’m currently working on one. The script is in the works right now. It’s in Hawaii. Not a bad place to shoot a movie.

Did anyone visit you on set? My husband came one day.

Was he blown away by the gore and dramatic effects? His face resembled a kid in a candy shop. He didn’t stay very long; he saw Jason and saw how they were shooting stuff. He was really intrigued by it. He’s a director, so for him, that’s his game. So he wasn’t shocked by any means, but he was into it.

Did you ever try on Jason’s hockey mask? No. I didn’t. I looked at the back of it, but never put it on.

Were you ever tempted? I can’t say that I was. I was more just fascinated with Derek Mears. The amount of makeup and prosthetics that they were putting on him, and then they put the mask on over it — it was all really intriguing to me. It was a long process for him, and the way that they really transformed him was incredible.

Did you form a relationship with Derek on set? Yeah. And with all the cast. It’s kind of really goofy, we’re all friends.

Did that change once he made the transformation into Jason? Working with Derek was really lovely because he has a stunt background, so he’s very conscious of space and choreography and safety. So when we were doing a lot of the stunt work, all joking and playing around aside, he was very focused in that regard in making sure that in what we were doing, we were going to be safe and no one would get hurt. And he was conscious of where you were in relationship to him and always asking, “Are you all right?” and “Is this comfortable for you?”. So there was that, which was sometimes hard to turn it back on that he was this big, creepy guy. He was so sweet about it and really with you in making sure that everything was going to be well planned out. And of course, we would sit and have giggle fits about stupid stuff. and I’d be like, “Shut up, stop making me laugh. We have to be scared now.” There were certain times, the first day when he walked out in the whole garb, I definitely got chills up my spine. It was really creepy. Once he put that mask on, he totally would just be Jason. He was in it.

In your opinion, what is the best on-film death? The Last King of Scotland. When Forest Whitaker’s character finds out that his girl has been fooling around with James McAvoy. That was pretty gut-wrenching.

How did you unwind every day after screaming your head off? I decompressed by spending a good 20 minutes in the shower scrubbing all of the dirt off my body. Then taking a long, hot bath with Epsom salt with either a glass of wine or a cup of tea. Music? Usually by the end of the night I was ready for quiet. Once in awhile, I’d listen to classical music. I was in a race to get to bed before the sun came up.

Are you superstitious at all? Not particularly. I think I was more when I was younger, but not much now.

Any nervousness about the release date? Friday the 13th, 2009? No, I think its kind of cool. Of course they wanted to do it on a Friday, and I think if anything was going to go wrong, it would have gone wrong on set. There were plenty of Murphy’s Law things that we dealt with onset. That was more danger than the release date. It could really go either way. It just depends on how audiences respond to the film.

Does your character, Whitney, turn out to be a heroine? Yes. She’s kind of a little bit of both. She can be the damsel in distress and the heroine. They’re both colors to the character.

It’s not easy being Jared Padalecki, at least not on the big screen. There’s something about him — maybe it’s the cocky-jock good looks — that beckons the blades of lunatic killers. In House of Wax (notable mostly for its much-lauded Paris Hilton kill), he had his Achilles tendon sliced by a freak mechanic and was embalmed in wax, only to have his face peeled off and then die of shock. You’d think after such an ordeal he might want something a little frothier. But the actor, a regular on the CW series Supernatural, will next play Clay, who heads up to Crystal Lake in search of his missing sister in the highly anticipated remake of Friday the 13th. Big mistake, since Crystal Lake belongs to some guy in a mask named Jason. We spoke to the star about how he prepared to face off against cinema’s most famous killer, and found out that all it takes is a protein shake.

How are you? I had the most absolutely bizarre day yesterday. Right when I was about to call you, I heard my dog yelping. I was on set, and she was screaming and shaking. I went to take her into the trailer, and she started screaming again, so I grabbed her because I thought her paw was hurt, and she bit me on the hand, real quick, and my dog would never growl at me or bite me. Never. I found out that there was a short circuit in the trailer, and she was getting electrocuted. It was a really kind of shitty situation. She was just trying to get away from the stairs.

Is she okay? Yeah she’s okay. She was kind of whacked out for a few hours. But now she’s playing around, there’s snow on the ground up here, so she’s loving it.

How is the shooting of Supernatural? It’s been going really well. Today is our last day before the holidays, but we’re halfway through with our 15th episode, so when we come back we only have about seven and a half episodes left. We’ve really done quite a bit, and we’re all really happy with the work. Season 4 seems like it’s really found its stride.

Do you have a dark side? I guess so. Certainly my body of work would suggest that, but it’s nothing that I planned. I’m not at a point in my career where I can say, “Bring me a comedy,” and then 15 comedies will show up at my door. I came to Supernatural straight from Gilmore Girls, so I’ve had a steady job, and it’s just the way it worked out that the movies I could fit into my schedule that I was excited about were all in the sci-fi, horror, thriller genre.

How did you prepare for your role in Friday the 13th? It’s hard to describe the preparation for Friday the 13th. I don’t have a method … I just try to get some ideas and familiarize myself with the character. I filmed Friday the 13th on April 30th in Austin, Texas, and was filming Supernatural in Vancouver, BC, on April 28, so I flew straight from set to set. If you talk to anybody in the cast, it was kind of a crazy shooting schedule — a lot of handheld, a lot of run-and-gun. It was kind of like guerrilla filmmaking, but I think it’ll turn out great. Physically, I tried to bulk up for the role a little bit. The last thing I wanted to do was watch a movie where some skinny pretty boy was fighting. I tried to work out hard and drank my protein shakes. As it is, I like to work out and keep in shape anyway, so I just tried to lift heavier. And it was a good thing because when I got to set, Derek Meers, who plays Jason, is 6’5”, solid muscle. I am nowhere near that, but at least I looked like I could have run away from him a little better.

Do you end up fighting Jason in the movie? I do, a few times. I get to have a few confrontations with Jason, so I kind of lucked out.

So you got to put your strength to use then? At the end of the day, you’re fighting Jason, and no one can take Jason, but at least I wasn’t 140 pounds.

Has working on all of these horror projects changed your perspective on the fear factor of movies? Has it desensitized you to scary movies? No, not really. That’s one of the great things about horror movies in general — it’s total escapism. Even though I’ve done a few now, I can still go into a movie theater and sit down, and get scared. I thought it might, but it hasn’t.

What was the first movie that really scared you? I don’t know if it was the first one necessarily, but Stephen King’s It, about the clown. That was awesome. I loved it, it was terrifying and would give me nightmares, and I’ll still go back and watch it.

Did you ever try on Jason’s mask? I didn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t. You know what, maybe if they have it at the premiere or something, or maybe if I sneak in. I think it’s on high-security lockup right now. I didn’t even think about that. I totally should have done that! I’m so pissed off that I didn’t do it! Maybe it would have ruined Derek’s mojo. It’s like the pitcher’s mound. You can’t walk up on the pitchers mound. Maybe he doesn’t want anyone trying on his Jason mask. I wouldn’t want to piss him off.

What did you and the cast do in your free time in the creepy woods in Austin? I’m from San Antonio, which is an hour south of Austin, so I when I found out that the movie was shooting in Austin, I was ecstatic. I have a bunch of friends in Austin, so we’d go out to eat, and I’d go out to Lake Travis and wakeboard and jog around Town Lake. Austin’s a great city, so we just hung out. The cast got really close, and we still send each other funny emails. The guys and gals who all live in LA actually see each other, but I’m the lone wolf who’s off in snowy Canada. Everybody’s sending emails like, “Hey we’re all hanging out at the Platinum Dunes (Michael Bay’s production company responsible for the remake) Christmas party, wish you were here.” And I’m like yeah, I’m on set, I’ve got fake blood all over my face and my shirt, and I’m cold.

How were Danielle and Amanda compared to Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert? They were great. I was lucky enough to do a lot more work with Danielle and Amanda than I did with Elisha and Paris in House of Wax. I wasn’t there for a lot of the physical stuff that Elisha had to do, and I didn’t really film a whole lot of the same scenes with Paris. But I got to see first-hand Amanda and Danielle doing the stunt bits, and getting beat up and bruised up, and just rolling with the punches. They were champs.

How did you decompress after a long day of screaming and shooting? A lot of times I like to have a glass of scotch or beer or something like that to decompress. But the days were so hard and frantic, that by the time I got home, I was literally too tired to twist off a bottle cap. My decompression was collapsing face first on my pillow. On the weekends, I’d drive to San Antonio to see my parents, or drive up to Dallas to see my brother.

After shooting this film, do you think you’ll ever send your kids to summer camp? Probably, if they annoy me enough.

Are you superstitious at all? I do a weird thing: If I’m going under a yellow light or when I’m getting on an airplane, I sort of kiss my finger and touch it to the roof.

Any nervousness about the release date on Friday, February 13th? Not really. I am so looking forward to that day, and being able to see it and have my family and friends see it, that I haven’t really thought about that. I don’t like to fly on Friday the 13th, so hopefully they’re not going to be flying me to some premiere somewhere. I’ve never liked to fly on Friday the 13th, even before I did the movie.

Have you ever sat in the theater in one of your movies before? I have. I’ve snuck into I think every movie that I’ve been in, usually right as they’re about to leave the theaters, a couple weeks or couple months after they’re released. I’ll go with a buddy and go in after the credits have started and sit in the back. That’s usually the only way I’ll watch the movie. I own all of the movies that I’ve been in, but I’ve never watched them. I’ve never been like, “Oh, I’m going to put my movie in.”

When you sneak into the theater are you focusing on the film or the crowd reaction? The film. I’m pretty lucky enough to avoid reaction. I’ve just accepted that there are people who are fans of me for no good reason, so I imagine that there are people who will be non-fans of me for no good reason. I just sort of catch the good with the bad and brush it all off my shoulders. I focus on the film and try to see what I like about my own performance, and what I’d change in the future.

Does anyone ever recognize you? Sometimes I’ll take a photograph beforehand or sign an autograph. I think I’m really sensitive to my own movies, knowing that it’s kind of a danger zone, so I’ll really sneak in — I have my hat down.

Does Clay turn out to be a hero? I’ll answer that with a quote. “Everyone is the hero of their own story.” So, he tries. For fear of the wrath of Michael Bay, that’s all I’m going to say. He certainly gives it a go. He gives it his best shot. So, in my book, he’s a hero.